The Good: Defense
The New Orleans Saints defense was a lone bright spot on Sunday, holding the 6-2 Buccaneers to just 212 yards, by far their lowest output of the season. They sacked QB Baker Mayfield three times, and were the first team to hold him without a touchdown pass this year. They held the Bucs to 3 yards per carry on the ground, and only gave up 16 points to the Bucs offense. They held rookie WR Emeka Egbuka to his lowest output of the season save for the game he exited early with an injury two weeks ago,
and only allowed the Bucs to go on two drives of more than 18 yards. The defense played well enough to win on Sunday, but poor starting field position, a touchdown by the Buccaneers defense, and the Saints offense only managing 3 points of their own wasted a great performance by the Saints defense.
The Bad: Penalties
The Saints committed 11 penalties against Tampa Bay, 8 of which were accepted. In the first half they had the Bucs stopped on a 3rd and 2 but were flagged for a holding that gave the Bucs a first down. On their first drive of the second half, and following a touchdown drive for Tampa Bay, the Saints committed four penalties for 30 yards and were forced to punt from their own 8 yard line which set the Bucs up for a field goal drive on which they only needed to gain 18 yards. Penalties have been a problem that has plagued the Saints all year, as they are currently the seventh most penalized team in the NFL.
The Ugly: Offense/Turnovers
The Saints offense was abysmal on Sunday, scoring just 3 points in what was their lowest scoring output since being shutout in Week 16 last year. The first five drives of the game ended in three turnovers and two punts, and their one scoring drive traveled just 16 yards following a Buccaneers turnover. Starting QB Spencer Rattler was benched in the 3rd quarter after turning it over twice in the first half following his 4 turnover performance last week. We got to see rookie QB Tyler Shough take his first meaningful snaps of his career, and on his first drive the Buccaneers intercepted a pass that Chris Olave failed to secure and had taken right out of his hands. Shough looked ok at times, and led the Saints on two drives deep into Buccaneers territory (albeit against prevent defense) but still failed to finish any drives with points. The Saints receivers dropped multiple passes, the offensive line gave up 5 sacks, Shough overthrew Rashid Shaheed on what would have been a wide open touchdown, Rattler threw a pick 6, and Alvin Kamara had just 8 touches, his fewest since his rookie year. All in all, it was a terrible day for the Saints offense, and head coach Kellen Moore and the coaching staff now have to figure out which young quarterback they want to start next week against the Los Angeles Rams, who currently have the second most sacks and the second-best scoring defense in the NFL.
